Thursday, February 18, 2016

Brazil MOH: Epi Week 6 Microcephaly report

# 11,029

The Brazilian MOH released an updated report card on their Microcephaly investigation yesterday, adding 201 additional suspected cases, while confirming 46 and discarding 72 from the backlog of more than 3,800 suspected cases previously under scrutiny.

Out of the 1345 cases already investigated, 508 (37.8%) have been confirmed as microcephalic by Brazilian authorities. Nearly 4,000 suspected cases remain under investigation.

So far Brazil is the only country in the Americas reporting elevated microcephalic births, which has tentatively been linked to maternal Zika virus infection. While the numbers were much smaller, we did see similar reports from French Polynesia's outbreak in 2013-2014.

There are reportedly as many as 5,000 Colombian women, pregnant and exposed to the Zika virus, who will probably begin giving birth in May and June. Assuming the Zika link is true, we should begin to see elevated microcephalic births in Colombia over the summer.

Of the total reported, 508 already had microcephaly confirmation and / or other disorders of the central nervous system and 837 were discarded.The Ministry of Health and the states investigating 3,935 suspected cases of microcephaly across the country. Of
this total, 60.1% of cases (3,174) were reported in 2015 and 39.9%
(2,106) in the year 2016. The new report released on Wednesday (17)
points out, too, that 508 cases have had confirmation microcephaly and /
or other disorders of the central nervous system, suggestive of
congenital infection. other 837 cases reported have been
discarded because they had normal exams, or submit microcefalias and /
or changes in the central nervous system by an infectious causes.

Amapá and Amazonas are the only states of the federation which has no record of cases. The
508 confirmed cases occurred in 203 municipalities located in 13
Brazilian states: Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato
Grosso do Sul, Pará , Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte,
Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. In total,
were reported 108 deaths from microcephaly and / or alteration of the
central nervous system after birth (stillbirth) or during pregnancy
(abortion or stillbirth). Of these, 27 were investigated and confirmed for microcephaly and / or alteration of the central nervous system.

Other research continue 70 and 11 have been discarded. In
all, 5,280 suspected cases of microcephaly have been recorded since the
beginning of investigations on 22 October 2015 until 13 February 2016. It
should be noted that the Ministry of Health is investigating all cases
of microcephaly and other disorders of the central nervous system,
informed by the states and the possible relationship with the Zika virus
and other congenital infections.

ORIENTATION -
the Ministry of Health advises pregnant women to adopt measures to
reduce the presence of Aedes aegypti, with the elimination of breeding
sites, and protect themselves from mosquito exposure, such as keeping
doors and windows closed or screened, wear pants and long sleeved shirts
and use repellents allowed to pregnant women. Distribution of reported cases of microcephaly by UF until February 13, 2016